The Crow and The Eagle [TAG: Aladdin]

The last days have been cold and harsh, making the hunts difficult for his sister and him. Today, the weather was mild enough to catch a few rabbits maybe, but nothing more. A sigh escaped his lips. Even warging with Mahal hadn't permitted help him find tracks liable to laid him towards a good pray. The gods weren't kind to him today.

His thoughts came to a sudden end when he heard shouting coming from his side, stopping him dead in his track. The voices were rough. Vociferating obscenities. Free men. Walking towards the source of the shouts, without making the slightest sound as he was now closer, he crouched down, hidden by trees and observed the scene. Four men, all weapons out, circling around another one, smaller, who was laying on the ground. He repressed a scowl. Cowards. All of them. Moving slightly aside, he finally caught sight on the one laying on the ground and his eyes widened.

It was the young crow. The young one who have been gathering wood a few days ago when he have been hunting with his sister. The peaceful one. Raising up from his hiding spot, his hand firmly wrapped around his spear, he walked slowly towards them, his face unreadable as his eyes shot deadly daggers at them. Those weren't his kind. He loathed them. Hated them. Their weren't his people.

The free men turned towards him, their attention now fully on him as the crow's eyes widened suddenly. “What is it that you want?”said one of them as he raised his chin up, challenging him to intervene. “This is our prey, boy. Back off.” Norjen's eyes narrowed suddenly, making the others men uneasy. “This is a man. And you are cowards to attack him by being superior in number. You” he said, his voice now as cold as steal and disgusted “are the child.”

Aladdin kept his harden yet frightened gaze upon the wildings circling around him, cursing softly at the injury to his side and right calf. He couldn't believe that they had been ambushed! It had just been a simple mission for the crows to go out as a group to search for food. They hadn't known that there had been wildings tracking after them and pounced when the time was right. He wasn't quite sure what happened to the other crows during the ambush. All he could remember was that most of the crows had scattered out into the wilderness on their horses, just like he had done to get away from the wildings.

But he had been the unlucky one since most of the wildings had chased after him. His horse had the worst luck when one of the wilding's had sent a couple of arrows in the horse, until one of them had seared it's heels. This had send Aladdin flying off his horse and tumbling through the snow, causing pain to sear from his right calf. But that slight injury didn't stop the young crow from fighting off a few of the wildings that attacked him. But eventually one of the wilding's had gotten him wounded on the side by a dagger in their hand. And now here he was, surrounded by the rumors that haunted the nights watch. So this was to be his death...he didn't want to die here in the snow by these savages.

But suddenly something caught the attention of his attackers, Aladdin looked to see what it was, his eyes widening at the sight of the wilding that he met a few days ago. "Y-You?" he managed to stammer out in surprise at the person who seemed to be actually defending him. The wilding had been accompanied by another wilding, and both had seemed to be more civilized and peaceful than the men right here. Though he couldn't help but swallow nervously at the sound of the male's voice as he spoke to the other wildings. The wilding was defending him? Perhaps these wilding's weren't in the same group at that certain wilding? He had heard about wilding's being in tribes. Aladdin quickly glared sharply at one of the wildings, gritting his teeth. "I'm not anyone's prey," he scowled darkly, wincing in pain as he tried to get up from the ground. Damn these injuries, Aladdin thought to himself as he glanced down at the bleeding wound on his side.

One of the men shot an angry glare to the injured crow, hatred clearly visible in his eyes before letting escaping a growl. “Shut your mouth Crow! Or else we will cut this tongue of yours...” Norjen was observing the scene, trying to get a maximum of informations from the others warriors. Hungry. Slow. Weak. His face stayed blank as his eyes darkened slightly, disgust clearly recognizable. Pathetic.

His eyes locked on one of the men who had started to approach him, his movements slow and prudent as he got closer and closer of Norjen. “Boy. You are not concerned by this.” He put his hand on Norjen's shoulder, unaware of the danger of the situation. “It is our prey. Stay back, child and we will let you go...” At those words, an amused smirk appeared on the young wildling lips, making the older one uneasy. The boy seemed far more dangerous than he first thought him to be. The old free man screamed suddenly as the hand reposing on the younger shoulder was suddenly twisted, a sinister snap echoing in the air, falling on his knees as Norjen was holding him down, his face cold and impassible. “You should have keep your mouth shut and run away when you could, old fool.”

He let go of the man, who fall on his knee still holding his broken fist, and turned towards the three remaining men, his eyes narrowing as he saw them hold their weapons tight. His eyes locked shortly with the young crow's eyes, giving him a slight nod before the three wildlings were upon him. Gone was the calm wildling that the Crow has seen a few days ago. His movements were quick, deadly as he dodged the hits aiming at him, instinct taking over him as he seemed to dance among them, his spear cutting through flesh and fur. Screams escaped the men's throats, blood spilling from their wounds as Norjen continued his morbid dance of death, never tiring, never stopping.

Aladdin glared up over at the man, not flinching at seeing the hatred in the male's eyes. Hating him for just being a crow. It's not like we all chose to protect the wall. Some of us were forced to do so, Aladdin thought in his mind in anger. But he just kept his hardened gaze upon the male, commenting out, "Go ahead." in a defiant tone. The young crow then watched as one of the men had started to approach the familiar wilding, swallowing a bit at the sight of the male's darkened gaze. He could definitely see that the men were only angering the male, by the sight of the disgust across his expression.

He shivered a bit at the sight of the male's amused smirk, feeling a bit uneasy as well. His gut twisted at the sounds of the sudden screams of the man and the sinister snap echoing in the air. His chocolate brown eyes just watched with surprise and slight fear at the battle going on before him. Aladdin quickly cursed under his breath as the wilding locked eyes with him, but slightly relaxed to see that the wilding was really helping him. He watched with an intrigued expression as he continued to watch the wilding closely, finding his movements as quick and swift as a Dornish male. Though his eyes did slightly widen at the sight of the male's attacks, finding his way of fighting to be almost similar to dancing. A dance of death mostly. And the male hadn't even broken a sweat nor paused in his attacks. The wilding just kept on going. Aladdin then quickly took notice of one the men approaching the male from his blind side, ready to attack him. Aladdin used his free hand and dug through his coat, quickly taking a hold of the dagger. His eyes locked onto the male's throat before swiftly throwing the dagger, barely missing Norjen's cheek and hit the male behind him in the jugular of the neck. The man stumbled backwards from the surprise attack before staggering forward and dropping down to the ground, blood pouring from the dagger in his throat.

His blood thrumming through his veins, dodging every attempt of the other warriors to wound him, Norjen was letting instinct take over him, his blows never missing, piercing flesh and breaking bones. Two bodies were laying on the snow, their blood slowly already tainting the snow with a deep red. He was taking care of the biggest one of the group, dodging the powerful attacks thrown at him when he faintly heard the fourth man, the one with the broken wrist, behind him. A snarl of annoyance escaped his throat. Cowards.

A flash of silver passed past him, skimming past him, almost cutting his cheek before he heard the sound of a body falling to the ground and let a predatory smile appear on his lips. He gazed straight in the eyes of his opponent, his voice floating between their two bodies as cold as ice. “Weak.” A quick movement of his wrist and the spear pierced the man's chest, his eyes never leaving the dying man's gaze before retiring his weapon in a swift movement, the body falling lifeless to the ground. May your ancestors have pity of you, he thought darkly before turning his gaze on the wounded crow. That was going to be problem.

Walking towards the young warrior, he stuck his spear in the frozen before crouching down to the crow sides. His gaze caught the younger warrior one, once more calm and unreadable, before pushing prudently the crow's hand away, observing the wound. A frown appeared on the wildling face. The wound was deep, but not dangerous. For now. “You have lost a lot of blood. Too much.” He looked straight in the crow eyes, his face still blank. “You will not made it to your people.”

Aladdin cringed a bit as his side just hurt even more after throwing the dagger, but a satisfied smirk formed upon his lips at seeing the man crumple. He may not be good while fighting the ways of the crows, but he was extremely handy with the fighting style of Dornish men. Also dagger throwing as well. One of the few tricks that he had picked up while traveling with his parents. The reminder of his parents slightly burned at him, causing Aladdin to push back the memories and anything containing his parents. Their memories still burned him even though their killer was dead.

His chocolate brown eyes continued to watch as the wilding took the last man down with such a predatory smile. That smile sent shivers down his spine lightly. He was a bit happy that nothing dangerous had happened that day when he had ran into the male and the hidden female wilding. Aladdin never wanted to get torn down like that so easily. His thoughts were immediately interrupted as he caught sight of the male turned his gaze back onto him. He bit his lip harshly as the wilding approaching him and crouching down to his side. The young crow didn't flinch back from the male, knowing in his mind that the wilding had just saved him. But his mind was going haywire with multiple paths that this sudden meeting would go after seeing the male just do a death dance with those other men and won.

His shoulders slightly relaxed at the sight of the now calm eyes of the wilding, though hissed in pain as the male pushed his hand away carefully and observed his would. Aladdin immediately grimaced and looked down at the snow. Was he really going to die out here? In this disastrous weather? Not a way that he had wanted to die at all. He then slightly nodded his head before glancing back up at the wilding. "Then so I die?" he murmured in a blunt straightforward tone, unsure of what to do. He wasn't even sure if the wilding could help him. Or even try to take him close to the wall and see that Aladdin got help. But surely the other crows would just kill the wilding on sight most likely. Killing first. Then questions. That's what seemed like the crow's motto up there. Aladdin let out deep shaky breath before also murmuring in a sincere tone, "Thanks for saving me though..."

The wilding was staying perfectly silent as he looked at the wound, internally listing all the possibles paths that the situation could follow. Returning the young crow to his people seemed like the right thing to do if not for the certainty that they will kill him on sight, not even bothering to understand why a wildling would suddenly be at their gates. He could always try to warging with Mahal and see where were the closet patrol but then again, it would be suicidal. Leave him here? Out of question. Not after he saved his life. There was only one solution left.

Letting a sigh escape his lips, he took out the dagger hidden in his boot before ripping a part of his upper coat, not even shivering as the cold air hit his exposed skin, before putting the furred clothes on the wound and took hold of the crow hand before placing it on it. “You are not totally safe, Crow, not yet... But you will not die. Not today.” He looked straight in the other man's eyes, his face unreadable once again. “Keep enough pressure on the wound to slow the bleeding.” His voice stopped, as if he wasn't really certain of why he was doing all of this, his gaze analysing the Crow as if he was some enigma. Which wasn't entirely false after all. He seemed more intelligent that the other Black men. “Now, I am going to help you stand. Try to not faint out.”

Norjen moved then closer to the Crow's side before taking hold of the free arm of the man and placing it around his neck, his own arm circling the man's waist and started to help him stand. His movements were slow, making sure that the younger warrior would adapt to the successive waves of pain running through his body. After a few minutes of the crow hissing and silent cursing, they were finally standing. “There's a cave not too far from here, where I've established my camp. There's medicine that would help clean this wound...” Norjen took hold of his spear before turning his head towards the crow who was leaning on him for support and spoke once more. “You will be able to rest and maybe that you will survive the night.”

Aladdin tilted his head to the side and widened his eyes, alarmed at the sight of the dagger but relaxed to see that the wilding cut off a part of his upper coat. The male didn't even flinch in the cold weather. He wished that he could be like that with this weather. But that couldn't happen for him due to him being used to such warm wonderful weather. His thoughts just wondered off as he pressed against his wound with the fur, cringing a bit at the pain. At the wildings words, Aladdin just chuckled, giving the male a sheepish grin. "Trying to lift my spirits?" Aladdin joked in a pessimistic tone, nodding his head as he kept pressure upon it.

He glanced up from the wound seeing the the male seemed to be analyzing him for some odd reason.Aladdin quickly averted his gaze from the wilding, wondering for a moment to why the wilding was going through all this trouble to keep him safe and well. Perhaps it was because he hadn't attacked the wilding before? Or did the wilding not even know it even himself. Aladdin quickly nodded his head, mumbling under his breath. 'I'll try." As the wilding moved closer to him and started to help him up, Aladdin hissed and cursed at the amount of pain throbbing from the wound. He breathed out shakily, listening to the wilding speak about a cave and having a camp set over in it. Chocolate brown eyes full of confusion and surprise glanced up to the other male, giving him a wary look. "Why..are you going out of your way to help me?" Aladdin questioned the male, knowing that the man was different from those others that attacked him. But still. Aladdin was still considered as a crow in the eyes of those beyond the wall.

The wildling was reaffirming his hold on the smaller man when he heard the crow's joke. He raised an inquisitive eyebrow. Well, that was something that he didn't see coming. At least, not from a man severely injured and that he was supposed to let die in the cold. Really, this Crow was apart of his kind. “If you still have enough energy to make fun of death, maybe that you will pass the night then.” He ended his sentence with an amused smirk, barely visible since it was so small before let his face go blank again.

However, when the crow asked why he had saved his life, Norjen frowned slightly as if in deep concentration, his mouth settling in a tight line. Why? That was a good question. Was it because the younger man hadn't attacked him when they have first met? Maybe, even though that he had not raised his weapon himself. Was it because of pity for the wounded man? He didn't know. The Deathbirds twins never showed pity, even of their own kind, so to think that he would have showed some to the wounded man was slightly disturbing. His eyes studied the crow's face, trying to find a reason as to why he had done such thing as saving the life of a supposed enemy. But he found none. “I do not know why. I just moved and saved you.” He looked straight in front of him and started to walk at a slow pace, letting the wounded crow lean on him to follow the pace. “Maybe it is as simple as that, Crow.”

Aladdin chuckled shakily at the male's comment, furrowing his eyebrows as he thought he had seen a small amused smirk upon the male's face. But the male's expression had quickly formed back into a blank expression. "Hopefully I do." he murmured, nodding in agreement with the wilding. He definitely didn't want to die out here in the snow. Like these other male's just had. He wanted to die when he wanted to once he escaped the night's watch. Hopefully get a ship to Essos.

As he awaited for the male's answer, he could tell that the man seemed very unsure as well. The male seemed to be thinking of an answer and it was definitely taking some thinking on his part. And he could feel the male's eyes studying his face from the corner of his eye. He sighed out softly as the male finally came up with an answer. Though it wasn't something that Aladdin had expected really. "Maybe it is," Aladdin murmured under his breath as he leaned on the male as they headed on the path to the supposed cave, cringing a bit at the wound. He pressed even a bit more onto it. 'Don't call me Crow...My name is Aladdin. Not some name of a bird," Aladdin remarked to the male, getting tired of being referred to as such.

In the back of his mind, the young wilding warrior could already hear the acid remarks that his sister will shot at him once she'll return to their camp, and knew without doubt that she will not leave him in peace before she had her fun with him. If he didn't know better, he was certain that he was doing it on purpose, just to hear her sarcastic jokes during hours and support her smug smile for days... What a wonderful perspective indeed.

His musing was brought to an end a the young crow spoke once again, apparently bothered by his nickname and this fact made an amused smirk appears on Norjen's lips a he continued to walk slowly, letting the young crow follow him at his pace. “True. Crow doesn't suit you... Sparrow might be more accurate.” The smirk on his lips widened at the young warrior incredulous stare and gaping mouth, making him forget his previous thoughts concerning his twin and by such, more relaxed as he advanced with confidence in the snow. However, he let the smile disappear slowly, his face becoming once again an unreadable mask as he wondered for a moment why he was doing all of this. No answer came to him, the wind and Gods staying silent to his questions.

As they arrived near the entrance of the cave, Norjen tried to pronounce the name he heard earlier, making the letter roll wamrly on his tongue as he repeated it. “Aladdin.” He shot a glance to his unexpected guess, studying him silently before pursuing. “It suits you.” Reaffirming his grip on the young man, he entered the cave with his supposed “mortal enemy”, leaving the harsh cold of the winter behind them. “I am Norjen.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Aladdin didn’t say anything else once they reached the cave and got settled in it. But he just couldn’t keep his mouth shut any longer as the wilding started to address his wound. Especially since he had actually seen amusement among the male’s face as he commented on Aladdin being a Sparrow instead of a crow. And the wilding had actually said his name as well. “And how does Sparrow suit me, might I ask?” he questioned the wilding, cringing a bit as the male tended to his wound. A sparrow did seem a bit better than those disgusting black birds that bad omens raveled around. Though he still didn’t like being called a bird.

Was it strange that he liked how his name had been pronounced by the wilding? It certainly was. But there was no way that Aladdin was going to admit that out loud. He glanced around the cave to distract himself from the light pain, furrowing his eyebrows as he took notice of something. “Didn’t you have a comrade from the first time we met?”

Once they finally entered the cave, Norjen immediately brought the injured crow toward the furs in which he rested usually when his sister was with him and make him sat on it carefully, not really desiring to reopen the young man's wounds so soon. Once he was seated, the wildling quickly make a fire to warm the cave's air before returning to the young warrior side and start to retire his clothing with precise movements in order to clean the bad wound who had started to bled again. As he started to bandage the crow's side, he shot him an amused look as he heard his question. “You are young and full of life. Your brothers of the wall however, are most like dead shadows.” It almost sounded like a riddle but it was how the silent wildling warrior talked when he wasn't speaking to his twin. “The crow represent death for your people. The sparrow represents life for mine. That Is why it suits you.”

He stayed silent for the rest of the time where he cleaned carefully the wound, paying attention to not tighten the bandage more than necessary. The wound wasn't too deep and wouldn't get infected, that was a good thing. Now he needed to gives to the young crow new clothes because his were almost torn and mostly covered in blood, just as his own. Good to burn but not to wear again, he thought. “That woman you saw the day we met was my sister and twin, Naerys.” Getting up, he walked toward a pile of furs and started to pick some for him and the young crow. “She wanders often on her own and comes back when she feels the desire to. She is a free soul.”